Chch high-rise apartments now on a lean

One of Christchurch's tallest and newest buildings faces
demolition after it was found to be leaning.

The 14-storey Gallery Apartments, opposite the Christchurch Art
Gallery where the Civil Defence temporary headquarters is based,
needs to be shored up in case of a major aftershock, its developer
Grant MacKinnon has been told.

MacKinnon says the three-and-a-half-year-old building on
Gloucester Street suffered significant damage in last week's
quake.

"Whether it has to come down or is repairable I don't know ... I
don't think people will be living in it for some time."

Eight of the 18 top-end apartments sold a year before they were
finished, despite their $1-$2.5 million price tag.

The building was controversial when it was being built, but
MacKinnon says it did the job it was required to do under the
building code by staying upright, allowing people to get out.

However he fears it could fall on the Art Gallery if there is
another big earthquake.

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The 13-storey Victoria Apartments building in the central city
has also been left on a lean following the quake.

The future of that block, on Armagh Street, is also unclear,
after it was found to have moved as a result of the quake.

Liquefaction has affected the ground underneath, but the
structure is sound.

Owner Stuart Leck, who lives in one of the apartments, says the
building is leaning 450 millimetres out towards the road from top
to bottom.

Leck says he is unsure what is going to happen because he has
not heard from anyone.

Questions over building sites

Meanwhile, two of the buildings that suffered catastrophic
damage in last Tuesday's quake were built on soil prone to "a large
increase in shaking".

The Canterbury Television (CTV) and Pyne Gould Corporation (PGC)
buildings collapsed and claimed the most lives in Christchurch.

The Quotable Value property-hazard reports on both buildings
found they were built on soil prone to "a large increase in
shaking" and had a high susceptibility to liquefaction, reports the
Otago Daily Times.

But those buildings aren't alone - the hazards identified in the
QV reports would likely apply to other buildings in Christchurch
because of the sandy ground conditions.

GNS Science says the devastating magnitude 6.3 earthquake,
centred southeast of Christchurch, was part of the aftershock
sequence that has been occurring since the September magnitude 7.1
quake near Darfield, 40km west of the city.

Dr Kelvin Berryman, from GNS, said seismic energy travelled in
waves and could be reflected off hard surfaces, much like sound
waves.

With the epicentre of last Tuesday's earthquake in the Port
Hills, a large amount of energy could have been reflected off hard
volcanic rock at depth. He said this compounded the impact of the
earthquake at the surface and caused the massive ground
shaking.

Liquefaction, which has been a major problem in Christchurch, is
also more likely to occur in granular soils such as the silty sands
common around Christchurch.

Owners of the CTV and PGC buildings say they were given
clearance after the last big quake in September and engineering
reports had been obtained.

The government has ordered an inquiry into the safety of
affected buildings.